TechCrunch Daily Crunch Tennis players criticize AI technology used by Wimbledon
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Jul 8, 2025 Tennis players express their concerns about AI line judges at Wimbledon, questioning the shift from human to machine. They share troubling experiences with misjudgments, raising issues of fairness in the sport, especially for players with hearing impairments. The debate centers on the balance of technology and human judgment in athletics. Additionally, there's buzz about Threads nearing the daily user numbers of its rival app, X.
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AI Line Judge Criticism at Wimbledon
- Wimbledon replaced human line judges with AI line-calling technology for the first time this year.
- Players like Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper criticized the system for incorrect calls, affecting match outcomes.
AI System Failures Impact Matches
- Ben Shelton rushed his match because the AI line calling system was about to stop working due to dimming sunlight.
- The automated system also failed during a match, causing an umpire to replay the point.
Human-AI Balance Necessity
- The backlash against fully replacing human line judges with AI shows a need for a human-AI balance.
- Similar trends appear in other industries, like Klarna rehiring humans after automation pushes.